The present invention relates to novel hinge assembly for automobiles, trucks and the like, and more particularly to passenger and drivers doors that typically are hinged to only open outwards.
In order to ingress or egress from automobiles or other vehicles that have drivers and may carry passengers, the automotive manufactures have added doors. Generally the doors are mounted on a single hinge, where one half of the hinge is mounted onto the vertical door post of the body of the car, and the other half of the hinge is mounted onto a generally parallel door structure. This allows the hinge to open the door by swinging away from the vehicle, thereby providing an adequate amount of opening to exit the vehicle, since smaller vehicles have much smaller exit openings than the larger vehicles. Since automobiles and trucks are essentially rectangular in shape, the most common method of providing doors is to mount the hinge on a forward vertical edge of the door, allowing the trailing edge of the door to swing outwards and forward.
With the advent of more modern vehicles, the manufacturers have incorporated aerodynamic shapes in order top provide a more fuel efficient and a more aesthetically pleasing shape to the vehicle. Safety engineers have also had major input into the design of the doors, in order to provide the maximum amount of safety both pre and post collision. One of the most glaring negative aspects of having doors open along the vertical forward edge of the door is that a large amount of room is needed in order to swing the door open to it""s greatest opening area.
There have been many efforts to revise the opening method of automobile doors not only for aesthetic purposes, but also for safety, in order to provide improved ingress and egress for passengers. In an effort to modernize the door assemblies to more effectively accommodate the complexity and sophistication of modern automotive and truck design, some manufacturers have incorporated non-standard door assemblies.
Mercedes, and BMW have incorporated the xe2x80x9cGull wingxe2x80x9d designs into a limited number of their vehicle designs. Delorean has also incorporated a non-standard door assembly, by allowing the door to rotate along its top edge to provide an opening for the driver and passenger. The Lamborghini Countach has doors which pivot vertically about the top forward edge of the doors. These doors, however, were only used in show cars and a small number of limited production cars.
The present invention is a two way hinge, where one flange of the hinge is mounted onto a hard point on the fender walls of the vehicle. A second flange is mounted onto the vertical door sill. The second flange is rotatably and hingeably mounted to the first flange such that the door hinges open 45 degrees, and then rotates upwards 20 degrees. The door is maintained in an open position by a standard shock/piston arrangement. The piston also reduces the amount of force needed to open the door.
The present invention also overcomes some of the shortcomings of existing hinges by allowing greater access for ingress and egress from existing automobiles and trucks, particularly in tight parking spaces.
The present invention provides a much more pleasing aesthetic vehicle which mimics more expensive vehicles such as the Lamborghini, Mercedes and Delorean at a greatly reduced per vehicle cost.
The present invention may be installed by an aftermarket shop, or person, and be sold as an easily installed kit. Alternatively, it may be installed by the manufacturer as an alternative to the existing hinge methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,172 by Townsend, discloses a Vehicle closure. This patent is generally designed for vehicles that are aerodynamically designed, and therefore have highly curved shapes. The door assembly is slidably mounted onto the vehicle and is rotatably moveable within the curved exterior about a series of arcs, where the door slides underneath the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,137 by Leschke et al. Discloses a xe2x80x9cSide Door of a Passenger Vehiclexe2x80x9d. This invention is based upon a singular pivot hinge that is geometrically mounted on the body work, typically the front fender area. The pivot is normally a bearing and allows for quick release from the A pillar of a vehicle. The operation of the mechanism allows for a rotation away from the vehicle prior to the rotation upwards. The basic differences between the present invention and the Leschke patent are that the present invention is specifically designed for a variety of vehicles and would be installed as an after market arrangement by either the owner or a shop. The design of the Leschke patent is such that the vehicle manufacture must install the hinge mechanism and also must design the door and body structure to accommodate the hinge.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,069 by Lecomte discloses a xe2x80x9cVehicle Door Mountingxe2x80x9d. This invention allows a door to rotate about a single fixed pivot shaft. The design of the Lecomte patent design allows the door to rotate open, but also the door translates outward along the hinge axis during the rotational motion. This is a discrete type of singular motion, in that only during rotation is the door forced to translate away from the bodywork of the vehicle. A shortcoming this patent is that the hinge system can only be accommodated by specific body shapes, and can not be easily accommodated with a large variety of automobiles or trucks in the open market.